PHAI Online - The Public Health Advocacy Institute
Archive for the ‘Publications’ Category
PHAI Publishes “Managing and Conducting Public Health Inspections: A Selected Bibliography and Topical Outline (1988)”
Friday, July 31st, 2009
In 1988, Dr. Anthony Robbins and his colleagues at Boston University School of Public Health created this document reviewing inspection-based enforcement in public health programs. Because of new interest in regulation, we are posting the document. When recently uncovered, it existed only in a paper and ink version, thus the document here was created by optical character recognition software after scanning the original. It may contain formatting errors due to the conversion.
Download the document here (pdf).
PHAI Publishes Issue Briefs on Tobacco Industry’s Corporate Makeover
Friday, May 8th, 2009
The Public Health Advocacy Institute, supported by the American Legacy Foundation, has completed a year of research on the tobacco industry’s attempted corporate makeover, and has created five issue briefs on the topic. A 60 minute Webinar was broadcast on May 11, 2009 and is archived HERE. They highlight various aspects of the tobacco industry’s use of corporate social responsibility rhetoric and tactics to attempt to rehabilitate its image and fend off tobacco control activism. These briefs each contain issues, the evidence and possible messages for State Tobacco Control Programs to use in their interventions and counter-marketing campaigns, and to generate support for future interventions. The issue briefs can be used effectively to denormalize the tobacco companies and better understand the motives behind their corporate makeover attempts.
- Download Webinar Archive (approximately 1 hour – requires Windows Media Player)
Issue Brief Topics:
- Corporate Social Responsibility Overview
- Manipulating Science
- Manipulating the Press
- Manipulating the Public and Regulators
- Youth Smoking
All briefs are in PDF format. 
Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food
Monday, April 6th, 2009
The two issue briefs and legal notes published under the theme Off the Map: Extracurricular School Food provide an overview of and legal and policy approaches to improving the extracurricular school food areas of school stores, concessions, fundraisers, and open campus lunch. These extracurricular environments are unique parts of the school food environment, because they are often outside the control of school food services and often involve parties outside the school.
The issue briefs and legal notes broaden our work in Mapping School Food: A Policy Guide, which provides tools to navigate the legal and policy complexities of school food. While the issue briefs and legal notes can be read modularly as stand-alone sections or pieces, we do recommend utilizing the issue briefs, legal notes, and Mapping School Food: A Policy Guide in conjunction with one another.
Download the issue brief on Open Campus Lunch [PDF].
Download the issue brief on School Stores, Concessions, and Fundraising [PDF].
Daynard and Gottlieb publish Op/Ed in Boston Globe: “How to fight America’s obesity epidemic”
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
The article, published on January 8, 2009, addresses some of the 47 policy recommendations that were discussed at our September, 2008 conference and appear in our report to the Obama administration.
PHAI Sends Obama Transition Team Obesity Policy Recommendations
Monday, November 24th, 2008
NEW FEDERAL APPROACHES TO OBESITY EPIDEMIC NEEDED:
Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law Provides Obama Transition Team with Legal and Policy Recommendations
BOSTON (Nov. 24– President-elect Barak Obama’s Health and Human Services Transition Team today was presented with a series of nearly 50 legal and policy recommendations designed to combat the nation’s obesity epidemic.
The document, developed by the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University’s School of Law, was sent to the Transition Team by Richard Daynard, a professor at the law school and president of PHAI.
Download PHAI Obesity Policy Recommendations to Obama Transition Team
“Public health, unlike some other national assets, cannot be ‘rescued’or ‘bailed out,’” Dayard wrote in a cover letter. “A sophisticated and aggressive federal approach to obesity is desperately needed.
“Such an approach could save countless lives and reduce the devastating consequences of this epidemic while meaningfully connecting with healthcare, agriculture and energy policies,” said Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director of the Institute.
“A failure of federal obesity policy would have untenable public health andeconomic consequences.”
The report from PHAI, a non-profit law and policy research organization, was based on recommendations developed by a group of leading national and international experts at a conference at Northeastern on stopping the obesity epidemic earlier this fall.
The conference, co-sponsored by Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) of Oakland, CA, brought together legal scholars, health policy advocates, and government officials.
The recommendations (www.phaionline.org) include such areas as the economic and social aspects of dietary behavior, ensuring equal access to healthy food and physical activities, food marketing regulations, and menu labeling laws.
Download PHAI Obesity Policy Recommendations to Obama Transition Team (pdf)
PHAI Publishes Presentation Slides from Fifth Conference on Public Health, Law and Obesity
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
The Public Health Advocacy Institute held its Fifth Conference on Public Health, Law, and Obesity on September 19-21, 2008. It was entitled “A Time for Action: An Obesity Agenda for the Next Administration” and was co-sponsored by Public Health Law and Policy.
Many of the speakers have permitted us to release the slides they presented to the conference attendees. In the list of panel topics and speakers below, click on the links to that speaker’s slides. Note that you must have a “PDF” reader in order to view these slides.
Overview of the Public Health/Nutrition Picture:
- Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH – NYU Dep’t Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health [slides-12mb]
Overview of the Legal and Policy Picture:
- Marice Ashe, JD, MPH – Public Health Law and Policy [slides-3mb]
Overview of Important Disparity Issues:
Presidential Candidates’ Statements on Obesity and Discussion
- Mark Gottlieb, JD – Public Health Advocacy Institute [slides]
Economic and Social Aspects of Dietary Behavior: Discussion of adjusting social norms about food choice and consumption through changing cultural norms, and pricing strategies.
- Jamie Chriqui, PhD – University of Illinois at Chicago [slides -1mb]
- Michel Chauliac, MD – French Ministry of Health [slides]
- Kathryn Henderson, PhD – Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Yale Univ. [slides]
- Jason Smith, JD, MTS – University of Connecticut, School of Medicine [slides]
Federal Food/Nutrition Initiatives and Implications for Food Reform: Discussion of the recently reauthorized Farm Bill, including strategies to adjust the NSLP and implementation and future reauthorizations to address the obesity. Included will be a Q&A on nutrition standards and food system options.
- Kenneth Hecht, JD – California Food Policy Advocates
- Susan Roberts, JD, MS, RD – Food and Society Policy Fellows Program [slides]
- James Weill, JD – Food Research & Action Center [slides]
Marketing: Examination of food marketing and potential regulatory strategies both in the US and abroad.
- Kathy Baylis, PhD – University of Illinois at Chicago [slides]
- Amandine Garde, PhD – Centre of European Legal Studies, University of Exeter [slides-13mb]
- Neville Rigby – International Obesity Task Force, London [slides-1mb]
- Emily York – Advertising Age [slides]
Menu Labeling: Effective Menu Labeling Strategies from both the East and West Coast.
- Jane McKenzie, JD – Prosecutor’s Office, King County, WA [slides]
- Lynn Silver, MD – New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Paul Simon, MD, MPH – Los Angeles County Department of Public Health [slides]
Physical Activity and the Transportation Bill Reauthorization: Policy issues and solutions to increasing physical activity in children and adults through transportation policy, zoning, school policy adjustments, and regulation.
- Angie Cradock, ScD – Harvard School of Public Health
Policy Implications of Childhood and Adult Obesity: Allocating policy focus between childhood and adult obesity.
- Lori Dorfman, DrPH – Berkeley Media Studies Group [slides]
- David Ludwig, PhD, MD – Children’s Hospital Boston [slides-1mb]
- Kevin Ryan, JD, MA – Arkansas Center for Health Improvement
The Weakening of RICO’s Remedies Provision: Analysis of the Appeals Court’s Decision in USA v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al.
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
This white paper analyzes the equitable remedies provision of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) as it was interpreted by both the trial and appeals courts in the Department of Justice’s civil RICO case against the major United States cigarette manufacturers. It demonstrates how the appeals court’s decision, which bound the trial court, severely affected the remedies that could be ordered in that case — despite the judge’s conclusion that the defendants are racketeers. It argues that RICO’s equitable remedies provision needs to be clarified and strengthened so that it can be used most effectively to promote public health.
Potential Master Settlement Agreement Violations Evidenced in Judge Kessler’s Findings in USA v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al.
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
This practice guide examines the court’s lengthy 2006 decision in the U.S. Department of Justice’s racketeering suit against the major American cigarette manufacturers. It highlights the numerous actions of these manufacturers cited in that opinion that may constitute violations of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, and it calls for enforcement actions to remedy such violations.
A Guide for Plaintiffs’ Attorneys: Using Findings and Resources from USA v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., et al. in Future Claims Against Big Tobacco
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
PHAI has published this practice guide to help plaintiffs’ attorneys understand the some of the value of the judge’s decision in the U.S. Department of Justice’s racketeering suit against the major American cigarette manufacturers for private practice. It highlights the ways in which attorneys may use this opinion in their future claims against “big tobacco” while pointing out areas in which its use may be problematic. It also provides a helpful list of online resources related to the case.
PHAI Creates Newsletter
Monday, November 26th, 2007
PHAI Fall, 2007 Newsletter We want to keep readers who are interested in the public health law work we do apprised of our programs and projects. To help accomplish this, we have created a newsletter summarizing some highlights. In this edition, we feature an article discussing our international human rights-based approach to tobacco control. Enjoy.
